Bachmann has a track cleaning car (a tank car) that lists for $35.00.
Car came out in Oct or Nov 2009.
Uses "dry" wiping pads.
NO fluid is used.

Anyone have any experience using this car? Wondering how well it works.

After seeing some spectacular shots for Railroads Illustrated "Day in North America" Photography Compilation, I was wondering if any of my fellow modelers would be interested in making our own version in scale. Basically it would be a document of the current state of railroading on your layout, versus the current state of railroading on today's mainlines and branchlines.

Guidelines:

Photo MUST be taken before March 1st.

There are three different catagories, all awarded for creativity.

-Morning/Evening shots
-Daytime Shots
-Unusual Circumstance (Unusual Special Load? Derailment? Grade-Crossing Accident? Intense Weather? Scenes from Layout construction worthy of note?)

Furthermore, we'd appreciate a variety of activities as the subjects of the photographs. Think of O. Winston Link and how he incorporated normal people into his subjects, telling as much a story with them as with the magnificent last gasp of steam on the Norfolk & Western. Ideas for subjects would include:

-Switching
-Mainline Action
-A personal scene from memory recreated in miniature
-A scene recreated from an old photograph
-The life of a railroad employee
-A quiet moment in nature disrupted by the train
-Spectacular Scenery with the train rolling through it.

Also remember that some of the most intriguing railroad photographs don't even have railroad equipment in them, if you can make an engaging photograph telling a railroad related story without the trains being front and center, that's just as good.

Go for creative shots, we've all seen shots of the classic 3/4 'wedge' style taken of our trains, go for realistic trackside angles or creative and unusual closeups or time-lapse shots.

Final tips to help your photograph stand out:
Make sure that if you intend to go with a polished, finished modeling scene that your scenery and details are placed and complete. We'd prefer to see weathered equipment not shiny plastic toys in the photographs, and make the subject as engaging as you can.

This contest is open to ALL scales from T (1:450) to 18" gauge 3/12" scale. Let's see those photographs!

To join the contest send me an e-mail by following this link: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.weatheringman.com/Contact_Us.html">http://www.weatheringman.com/Contact_Us.html</a><!-- m --> You can also post your photos in this thread from now until March 2nd, and I'll post them up on the website with all the other entries.

All photos will be posted by March 4th, 2010 as a post on INTERACTING WITH MINIATURE RAILROADING: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://modelrailroading.wordpress.com/">http://modelrailroading.wordpress.com/</a><!-- m --> my website, voting will begin for all of you the same day and YOU choose the winner via poll. The Staff here will also choose their favorites and post the winners up here.

I'm having fun preparing masters for On3 kits. I'm still a bit nervous about the business side of things: getting incorporated, setting up a website & payment system, making bulk part orders, and production. I know there is a market out there for the South Park cars...but not certain as to the Oahu Railway ones.

As a result of my acquisition of information on Oahu Railway items, I've come to the point where I'm going to have to build two layouts: one for the South Park (scenery emphasized) and one for the Oahu Railway (operations emphasized).

A major component of preparing the kits has been to design the parts in such a way that they are both easy to cast and easy to assemble (including, accurate paint). I've found myself making extensive use of my pre-production castings for the Oahu Railway coach ends to modify my roof master.

One of the pleasures has been the help I've received along the way...both the encouragement and additional information. I'm going to have a more accurate underframe for my Oahu Railway kit than almost any other model out there (this was thanks to a gentleman in California and another in Hawaii whom climbed under the surviving cars and provided me with precise measurements).

I would ultimately like to have at least 20 of these Oahu Railway coaches. They were the only NG road (to my knowledge) whom ran 20 car passenger trains.


(prior to touching up the roof)

I've caught three small mistakes on the ends of the car, and I've corrected them. One of the mistakes was related to the specifics of the frame and undetectable prior to getting measurement data, another was an NBW disappearing, and the last was an omission common to the plans.

I mainly model British outline 00 (quite similar to HO) trains and my current layouts use direct-current. British manufacturers have apparently lagged a few years behind their North American counterparts in terms of adding sound to their locos.

Hornby, one of the major British MRR companies, is now offering more and more locos equipped with sound — the 2010 range of sound-equipped locos looks very tempting!

So far, I’ve decided against DCC mainly because of the cost and because about half of my 30 some odd locos are from the 1960s and ‘70s. DCC also seems very complicated.

I understand that, in order to use the full range of sound options, sound-equipped locos should ideally be run via DCC. A few of my newer locos are already DCC-ready. But I believe it would be too difficult to convert my 1960s Triang and Hornby Dublo locos to DCC.

Just curious to find out what other folks, in similar situations to mine, have done. Have they “shelved” their older locos and switched completely to DCC or have they created two layouts, i.e. one that is DC and one that is DCC?

I also just asked at a LHS how much it would cost to convert a fairly-new loco to DCC and they said it would be close to $200 per loco, which I certainly can’t afford! Also, most new sound-equipped/DCC Hornby locos cost about double the price of what a non-sound loco would cost — again, the cost is really discouraging me.

On the other hand, this new line of sound-equipped DCC locos is still very tempting and I think I should be using 21st century technology rather than 1960s technology! Plus, it would be so cool to control 2-3 locos remotely and to hear the "peep-peep" and chuffing sounds.

Thanks in advance for any feedback or suggestions.

Rob

My new layout is fairly small, and nowhere near the size of my last one. So Im pretty limited to the amount of industry I can have on it, as I dont want it too crowded.

I have one area thats gonna be a pretty decent sized grain elevator. Its a simple one track spur with a large elevator. I know there are uses for tank cars in the grain indusrty, such as with ethonal, and there are industries using both grain and tank cars, but would there ever be some sort of need for a tank car at a grain elevator, maybe if they do more than just store the grain, I just dont want to have to add many other structures to the scene in order for a tank car to "fit in".
I also have another area on the layout with two spurs, and Im not completly sure what will go here, but would there be a need for a tank car at a paper plant?

I have industries that will be requiring open hoppers, boxcars, lumber cars, grain cars, flatcars, but Im kinda just wondering what kinds of industries would require a tank car, so I can add to the mix of what I can run.

Calling all UP modelers, including prototype modelers. Here is a train for you to build.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/transportation/4345689.html">http://www.popularmechanics.com/technol ... 45689.html</a><!-- m -->

In n scale it is only 115.5 feet long.

dwight77

just curious if anyone on here ordered and got one of the new ATLAS MP-15's that recently came out. they were supposed to be here in the fall of 2009, however i just got mine yesterday from my LHS in UNION RAILROAD scheme. Atlas did a very nice job on these. well worth the wait. i am just curious if anyone else got one and how you guys like them.


Todd

Hoping to get some feedback on the following:

As my layout building nears completion, I've been thinking about the layout. My original thought was that I wanted a point-to-point because it is the most "sincere" arrangement for a model railroad.

The following diagram (Layout idea #1) shows what I have been thinking. The removable bridge would only be needed when I wanted to do continuous run - it isn't needed when actually operating, meaning the door would not be obstructed. Both of the staging - interchange yards would be scenically complete. Rollingstock would be stored in drawers under each interchange, and would come on and off the layout between sessions.

Advantages:
point-to-point like the real thing
no need to block the door with bridge

Disadvantages: takes up more layout space which could be used for other purposes



As I was working on the sheetrock, I had this thought: If I placed both interchanges on the left side of the room (layout idea #2), I could open up more space for industries and such.

There is a total of 170 feet of shelves in the room, so saving 12 or 13 feet may not be all that important.

Advantages, disadvantages = opposite of above



What do you guys think?

Well finally time for me to join in. I have 5 cabooses that I want to kitbash, much like the ones Ralph and E-paw did, but they are stashed away for now and I can't get them. Then Nachoman started his passenger car bash and I thought "I have one of those and I really like that narrow vestibule... " but then I saw Sumpter's crane and thought "Hmm... MOW equipment has definite bashing possibilities..."

Well I decided to go my own way and not bore you guys by copying someone else's challenge. I am going to use leftover parts from a couple of locomotive kitbashes I have done to make an ALCo RS-11B unit. I'm not certain, but I don't think there were any prototype RS11 B units made.

Here is the Bachmann Spectrum Baby Trainmaster Chassis that I will be starting with. I have modified the frame by milling down the thickness of the frame rails to fit into the RS11 body.



I had an Atlas RS11 body in my junk bin...



My plan is to blank off the cab area and bend new handrails. I can use the FM trucks, which are similar to the ALCo trucks, or I have some Bachmann Spectrum EMD Blomberg trucks from a GP30. I am not sure which I am going to use but I am leaning toward the FM trucks.